Habitat for the UK’s Great Yellow Bumblebee has declined 80 percent over the last century thanks to the loss of the flower rich meadows that sustain them. They now only persist in the North of Scotland, so when Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks planned a new substation in the Highlands, preserving the habitat of the bumblebee was a crucial part of the design process. For SSE this was part of a wider strategy to ensure that every project they build has a net improvement on biodiversity. And soon all projects in England will have to do the same as the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs has announced sweeping changes to new developments mandating the requirement for biodiversity net gain on all new projects.

Guests
Dr Julia Baker, Author, Biodiversity Net Gain: Good Practice Principals for Development
Tom Butterworth, Technical Director for Biodiversity, WSP
Caroline Maghanga, Senior Ecologist, Mott MacDonald